We got the idea for this program from a public domain program written in BASIC called SHOP authored by Harvey and Susan Scali. Their program was good in concept but placed severe limitations on category and item files. We also found we were making too many trips to the supermarket, doing too much impulse buying, and in general wasting time and money. Now we have a handle on what we spend, we rarely run out of things, and handle the nuisance of grocery shopping more efficiently. It does look a little strange to people, seeing us running around the supermarket with a computer printout, but what the heck!

The program is offered to the public as is, and no responsibility is assumed for any damage arising from its' use. It is hoped that you find it helpful in the drudgery of grocery shopping. The program runs on a PC, PC/XT, PC/AT and compatibles. It requires 256k of free memory and one diskette drive. It was written in dBase III, using the CLIPPER compiler from NANTUCKET CORPORATION under DOS 3.2. A printer is also required for printing the Shopping List.

The program lets you create shopping categories, i.e., DAIRY, PRODUCE, MEATS, CANNED GOODS, etc., as you choose. Within each category you can create item types - for example, in the DAIRY category you might have MILK, EGGS, BUTTER, etc. You can create, change and delete categories and items. You also assign to each item a description, an allocation (how many of the item should be on hand), the in-stock position, and a price. As you use items, you would keep a record and periodically update your shopping list in the program. When you are ready to actually do the shopping, you would print the list. It would show the category, the items within the category by name, description, how many to buy, the price, extension, and expected total. After having shopped you would update the item file with what you actually purchased. For more efficiency, you can arrange the categories in an order that approximates the layout of aisles in the store or stores you shop at. That way the printed list will be such that you can literally proceed through the store from one end to the other, and not have to jump around on the list or in the store. You can specify 3 store layouts. Initially it will require some work to determine your categories and items, to figure what each allocation should be, and to know the prices. Use of the program will give you more familiarity with these details,

as you shop and note what you spend and how often you buy an item. You can then adjust accordingly. You should back up your files, for safety's sake, and in the event that you mess them up with changes, etc., beyond repair.

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SYSTEM CONVENTIONS

All menus use light bars with each selection starting with a different first letter. You may make a selection using the cursor control keys followed by return, the HOME and END keys, or by typing the first letter of the menu prompt. When selecting from a windowed option (categories, items, printers), the same keys apply as do with light bar menus with two exceptions: 1) The Page down and Page up keys work as you would expect; 2) When you type alphanumerics you enter search mode instead of selecting the choice beginning with the key pressed. In other words, if you are searching for PAPER TOWELS you may search by type P A P E R. This may be enough to find the item, however, if there is an item named PAPER PLATES in the same category, the light bar will stop at the first occurrence that matches. You may press the backspace key to delete the last key pressed from the search. The selections are alphabetically organized for easy searching and are not case sensitive. To cancel the name search, press a cursor directional key, home, end, page up, page down, escape, or return.

The key may be used to abort just about any process, adding/editing records, printing, etc...

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CATEGORY MAINTENANCE

Categories must be set up prior to entering any items. You may use this procedure to add, edit and delete categories. Along with the category name, there are 3 fields for sorting purposes. These fields are best used as aisle numbers for the stores where you shop. Different categories may have the same sort number for the same store (since different categories may be found in the same aisle). We found that keeping many specific categories versus less more general categories works better. You may have as many categories as you desire. "Set store names" can be used to enter the names of the 3 stores which you frequent most often.

Category names must be unique, duplicates (case not withstanding) are not allowed. You may change a category name once it has been entered, items entered in it will be updated automatically. You cannot delete a category that has items entered against it.

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ITEM MAINTENANCE

Once you have set up some categories, you are ready to add items. This procedure allows you to add, edit, and delete items. You may also move items from one category to another by using the F2 function key when displaying the item in edit mode. The current category is always displayed on the status line located at the bottom of the screen. The DESCRIPTION field may be used for manufacturer and/or quantifying information. Suppose that as an item name you have entered CREAM CHEESE, you may for example enter PHILADELPHIA 8 oz. in the description field. The ALLOTTED field should contain the number which you wish to always have on hand. The IN STOCK field should contain the actual quantity on hand and the PRICE field is just that.

When the shopping list is printed, all items where the IN STOCK is less than the ALLOTTED amount are selected. We find that we have included many items in our ITEMS file which we do not wish to have an allotment for, in this case we have entered zero as the allotment. When we need to include such an item in our shopping list, we enter a negative value in the IN STOCK field.

The detailed listing prints the entire item file sorted by category in ascending order grouped by category. The report is formatted to fit on standard 8 1/2" by 11" paper 80 characters across.

The Shopping list prints only those items which meet the condition of the IN STOCK amount being less than the ALLOTTED amount. After selecting this report you will be further prompted to select the order (either by one of the three stores or alphabetical by category) to be used. This way, with report in hand, you can literally go down the list and walk aisle by aisle fetching the items listed. After you have finished shopping, you should then update the IN STOCK fields of the items purchased. The report will sub-total the cost of each category and also grand total the expected amount. The report is formatted to fit on standard 8 1/2" by 11" paper 80 characters across.

The Fridge listing is a 4 column report suitable for tacking on your refrigerator. It is arranged in ascending order by category, however, only the item names themselves are printed. We use this list to either mark things which we have used or things which we may need. Before you are ready to go shopping, you should take this list and update the IN STOCK fields for the items marked appropriately and then print the shopping list itself. The report is formatted to fit on standard 8 1/2" by 11" paper 135 characters across (compressed print required).

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REMOVE DELETED RECORDS

When you delete a record (either category or item), it isn't actually removed until this option is run. This is done to speed processing time. Therefore, if the ITEM file record count shows as 176 and you delete 5 records, the record count will not change to 171 until this option is run. I recommend this procedure once a month or so. By running this procedure, you decrease the size of the data files by the number of records removed. This procedure also updates the indices (see next page) upon completion.

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UPDATE INDICES

This procedure updates the indices used by the CAT and ITEMS databases. It should not be necessary to run since the indices are maintained as records are added, edited, or deleted. However, if for some reason the indices become corrupt, you may need to rebuild them using this option.

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SET COLORS

This option is for COLOR monitors only. It allows you to select the text foreground and background colors as well as the enhanced selected and unselected colors. You may also set the border color to be used (because of a known problem with EGA cards, borders have no effect).

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DEFAULTS

There are 4 variables which you may change to customize the program to your particular needs. The delays can be changed to speed up or slow down the time in which status and error messages are displayed. The tax rate is used in the shopping list report for total calculation. The printer table selection sets the system to use the appropriate printer codes for underlining, initialization, etc...

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EDIT/CREATE PRINTER TABLES

This option allows you to edit or create printer tables. All printer tables will have a PAT extension. These PAT files are standard dBase III memory files which contain the codes for specific printer features. If your printer does not support a feature, leave the appropriate field blank. The strings are entered ala Lotus style.

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QUIT

You guessed it! This is the proper way to leave the shopping program. It closes all files and restores the PC to the state prior to execution. Failure to do so may result in loss of data.

2. Calculator Pressing F10 will display a simulation of a basic pocket calculator. This program was written by Guenther Daubach. I have included it in case a quick calculation is necessary during editing. The calculator functions are self-explanatory except that pressing X will take the value in the calculator's display and enter it in the current field you are editing.

3. Go to Shell Pressing Ctrl-F1 will return you to the WordPerfect Library if the program was called from it, otherwise, an error message informing you that the shell is not present is displayed. For those of you unfamiliar with the WordPerfect Library (WPL), WPL is a menu manager program with many useful desktop utilities included. I use it all the time and haven't found one better. It is manufactured by WordPerfect Corporation, the same manufacturer which produce the word processor, WordPerfect. If the WPL is found, you are returned to the shell with program memory resident.

I am always updating the program, adding features and the like. If you wish to register with me, I will notify you of updates. To register, send me a letter with your name, address, daytime phone number and a donation ($25 suggested) to the name and address below. You may also include suggestions and/or comments.

You are free to distribute the program to whomever you like as long as no fee is charged, and all files included in this package are distributed as well.